Freak Athlete Hyper Pro Review – The BEST Got Better – 2026

Last updated on January 21st, 2026 at 10:14 am

In 2024 we had every single Nordic Combo Bench on the market in our garage at one time. We pitted them against each other, and the Nordic Hyper GHD came out victorious. And then a week later they dropped the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro.

We’ve been using ours regularly for the past year w/ myself, my wife, my daughter, and basically everyone who entered our gym. And we’ve been lucky enough to have every single one of their attachments to test and tinker with as well. In that time, we’ve realized that there is a lot of good, and some not so good, stuff going on with the Hyper Pro.

Ultimately, this might still be the BEST Nordic Combo Bench on the market, but it isn’t the best solution for everyone. So today we are going to drop the most comprehensive look at the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro with all the fixings for ya, so you can decide if this is the next addition for your gym, or not.

Transparency Note

Freak Athlete sent me the Hyper Pro, GHD Attachment, Upper Body Kit, Belt Squat Kit and Leg Developer free of charge, for sake of review. As an early product tester for all of them, I’ve had a hand in helping push these forward a bit. That said, my plan as always is to provide a clear and detailed review that can help YOU make the right decision for your home gym.

They have also provided an affiliate link. Clicking these links helps me get a kick back for my work, while costing you nothing. These funds go towards managing this site, producing YouTube videos, and more. I appreciate your support.

Freak Athlete Hyper Pro Overview

The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro has Nordic Curls and Regressions, Back Extensions, Hip Thrusts, Decline Sit-Ups, Glute-Ham Raises, and Freak Athlete claims the Reverse Hyper which I believe is incorrect.

They have also launched their Leg Developer, which adds in Leg Extensions, Leg Curls, as well as an Upper Body strap for rows, curls, and other odds and ends. And they released their Belt Squat Attachment that does squats and calf raises. There are still other options like Bulgarian Split Squats, QL Raises, and you can get creative and do other things like DB curls or whatever crazy stuff your head comes up with.

Freak Athlete Hyper Pro Specs

• Brand: Freak Athlete
• Made In USA: No
• Dimensions: 60″ X 23″ X 22″
• Vertical Storage Dimensions: 23″ X 22″
• Weight: 108lbs
• Suitable Athlete Height: 5ft to 7ft tall
• Steel: 14 gauge on base frame and tubing, 8 gauge on footplate
• Finish: powder-coated steel outside, galvanized steel inside
• Weight Limit: 500lbs for EACH set-up
• Additional Notes: 14 total incline/decline adjustments at 5° increments
• Assembly: About 30 minutes
• Warranty: Lifetime manufacturer warranty
• Return Window: 100 days to give it a shot, and return if it doesn’t work for you
• Military Discount: TBD

Freak Athlete Hyper Pro FAQ

Shipping & Assembly

The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro made some nice improvements over the Nordic Hyper GHD in this area. They took a note from Shogun and packaged all of their assembly parts into individual baggies, which are labelled, and coincide with the steps in their instructions.

This means you are no longer having to search for what bolt they are talking about, or find the washers, or matching nuts. On top of this, the entire machine ships in one box, which is firmly packaged. As long as this doesn’t get tossed around and something penetrates the box, everything should be fine. There is still some room to improve here if they want to make this a true premium experience. The Shogun NORD-EX is STILL the best shipped product I’ve ever received. But keep in mind, you pay for that experience, so Freak Athlete might have to charge an extra $50 or more to make that happen.

Assembly took me about 30 minutes, but I was working without any installation videos or instructions. I have also assembled a number of these, so I think that probably balances out. So expect 30 minutes if you are fairly assembly capable, maybe closer to 1 hour if you haven’t put anything together and have to use their included wrenches instead of a socket wrench.

You can grab the assembly instructions right here.

Shipping is, overall, adequate. Their assembly process is improved. So we are making strides here with the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro.

Freak Athlete Hyper Pro Build and Construction

The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro has a basic black powder coat throughout. Nothing as nice as a REP bench, but it’ll get the job done. We’ve noticed that in a few places where we have things like the rollers coming on and off, it has some scratches from our year of use. This is because we have metal on metal, sliding up and down. In an ideal world we might have some kind of plastic liner and compression piece to keep this from happening. It isn’t enough that it looks terrible or will effectively damage the product, but for those picky home gym enthusiasts, keep this in mind.

Pop Pins & Adjustments

The magic happens with the pop pins throughout the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro that come in different colors in an attempt to make adjustments easier. On paper I get the different color combo, but if you asked me blindly to tell you what color knob does what, even after weekly use for the past year, I would have no idea.

But, the adjustments are second nature to me at this point. I know which knob does what, where to grab to do Nordics, Back Extensions, you name it. I know what pin and what setting I need for everything, without thinking about it. This comes from weekly use, over and over and over. I think you just need time to learn and adjust.

The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro knobs and pop-pins are plastic, and the red knob is used almost every single time you use the Hyper Pro. So far we haven’t had any damage, but I have had to tighten it into the socket once or twice. A more reinforced piece might be nicer, and I think I’d lean towards metal being a better choice overall, but it also would make it less serviceable and cost more. With how often you use these, I’d lean towards metal with no colors.

Stability

The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro added a U-Frame to the back of the unit to improve stability. Which is great for performance for larger athletes. We don’t need weight holding it down anymore. BUT because of that, the entire unit is quite a bit longer. For a tightly packed gym, even in my space with an open side of the garage, this can be troublesome. We’ll talk about that more as we go for certain exercises and set-ups.

Footplate

The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro footplate is wide enough for any athlete we’ve had in the gym, but it certainly doesn’t stand up to something like a West Side or EliteFTS GHD with the REALLY wide plate. The BaseBlocks Nord Plus had such a small footplate, that my toes didn’t come in contact with it. No issues here with the Hyper Pro.

Vertical Storage

The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro has wheels and vertical storage that work well and help something this big MOSTLY disappear when not in use. Even when I have to navigate an overly crowded garage with the stuff I’m reviewing, it moves around fairly easily.

The vertical storage bar on the back however is a big downgrade compared to the Nordic Hyper. It is like a tow hitch on the back, at some point you are going to bump into it and nail your shin. The solution would be to drop it down while in use. I’ve done this and more than once ran into issues where I forgot to put it back up, started putting it away, and almost dumped it. I know we have some simple physics to work through here and it can’t balance on it’s own, but I really dislike this piece aesthetically, functionally, and for the sake of my shins.

Aesthetics

You’ve got a more aesthetic look with the new Freak Athlete Hyper Pro vinyl than the previous Nordic Hyper GHD, which is now available on all the padding and attachments.

In general, the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro is a bit more of a budget item than some of the other pieces in my garage when it comes to the build and finish. It wins some points over its predecessor and loses some as well in a few categories. I think the majority of home gym owners won’t complain about the aesthetics, but this still won’t live in a gym where people expect commercial quality paint, parts, and finish.

As mentioned, the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro is going to unlock a lot of options, and that is really going to be our bread and butter discussion today, so let’s start with Nordic Curls.

Freak Athlete Hyper Pro Performance

Nordic Curls

If the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro did nothing but Nordic Curls, I’d wager it still might be the best Nordic Curl bench on the market. It has the most regression options available, it even has decline options, and it is about as stable as a unit can be with how much it has going on. In fact, it is MORE stable than any other Nordic Bench we have used in our space. With the added U frame in the back, the stability in use has been improved. I’m able to knock out Nordic Curls from 45 down to flat, without any real movement going on during use.

The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro still suffers from the side-to-side play when getting into position, which is simply the nature of a center post design. But I know some of my pickier home gym enthusiasts want a rock-solid ride from beginning to end. This is not that.

Remember that I’m 6ft 240+lbs, this thing doesn’t even flinch for anyone else in my household.
The foot rollers are adjustable for athletes of basically all sizes, and we’ve had kids well under 4 feet here.
We also have TWO rollers which helps lock your feet in place and helps with your power for Nordics. Having used units with just one roller before, I can confidently say that TWO, is better than one.

A couple things to note for Nordics. Because the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro is longer than some of the others on the market, you have the ability to get a little OOOMF out of the bottom. This makes Nordic Curls MUCH easier, similar to something like a cheat curl. Both a pro and a con depending on how you look at it. I can bang out reps in the flat position with a little oomf, and I’m back to about the 35 degree regression if I get super strict on my form. This isn’t a pro or a con, just something to be aware of.

Overall, I couldn’t personally ask for anything more in a Nordic Curl Bench. The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro has worked for every athlete that has entered our gym, big to small, young and well-seasoned. I can’t say the same for the rest of the Nordic Benches we have tested.

Decline Sit-Ups

The same set up for decline Nordics, gives you decline sit ups. I’ve never been a fan of this movement. I just find it awkward to get into place, do a tough set, and then get out of without falling over. That said, this is an option on the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro and it requires no additional attachment.

You have multiple angle options as well, and it works as good as any other option I have used in my space, and I’ve tinkered with half a dozen benches in the past couple years.

If this is a regular core exercise for YOU, I’d give a slight edge to the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro over anything else.

Back Extensions

The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro uses the same angle adjustments for Nordic Curls, as it does for Back Extensions, meaning that we can go all the way up to 45 degrees. You can even go completely horizontal by lifting the backside of the bench up as well. Most people are probably going to land at one of the extremes, doing 45 degrees for a glute and hamstring dominant back extension and horizontal for a low back dominant back extension. But you can technically do 35 degree back extensions if that makes you excited for some reason.

Since it uses the same structure for Back Extensions as it does Nordics, the same stability pros and cons come into play. You have some side to side when getting set up, which goes away in use. I like the addition of the schlong slot, even if I think these tend to not work as well as they are intended to work.

The downside to the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro compared to a commercial back extension, is the main frame support is “in the way” of loading up most heavy options and the machine itself isn’t super high off the ground. You can 100% get away with a good sized dumbbell, or medicine ball, or even a weighted vest. But If you plan to do anything beyond those, you are going to need to get creative. Luckily, I’ve got two creative options for you.

Back Extension Hacks

First, is to hook up the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro to a cable machine with a few parts from Amazon. You can run a cable through a pulley, and now you have cable driven back extensions, limited by whatever your machine can handle. This is a really simple solution, only costs a few bucks, and works pretty dang good. I’m not going to say that this is comparable to an ATLANTIS dedicated 45 Degree Back Extension with cable mount… but we are working pretty well.

And second, which is our go to… We’ll prop up the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro hip thrust post, attach the VOLTRA bar mount, connect the VOLTRA I, and set up the Atlas Bar. This is the best back extension set up we’ve figured out in our space so far. Since Freak Athlete is going to be releasing the ATOM in the near future, I’m hoping that they will have some kind of solution for something similar.

Overall, back extensions are better on the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro than any other home gym type back extension solution we’ve used, and it is made even better with the hacks I’ve shown. This should work for all but the heaviest of lifters looking to man handle hundreds of pounds on a heavy back extension. If that is you. you just need a commercial piece.

Hip Thrusts & Split Squats

An excellent use of pieces and parts that we already have is the Hip thrust and split squat option for the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro. We have an adjustable pad, which means we can accommodate different sized athletes. I’ve hit a 500lb hip thrust here and had no issues, which tells me it is strong and the pad is decent enough. There are only a few gripes I have with this function.

First is the size. The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro is a fairly LONG machine on its own at 5ft. Now add your body length to the front of it, and you now need 8+ft of open space to make this work. If you use a bar, you now need an even larger space to make this work, which is effectively the size of a small SUV. That length also means that the Hyper Pro can’t fit well with other pieces like a cable machine, or even in smaller garage spaces.

And second, is that you have no way of using bands for hip thrusts. Contrast this with something like our Booty Sprout Pro, that uses bands, can fit in tight spaces to work with other equipment, and you’ve got a more small space friendly hip thrust solution.

So this isn’t our favorite hip thrust or split squat solution in our gym, but it’s a good one if you don’t have anything else. It’ll hold up to heavy weights, be usable by most athletes, and get the job done without needing any additional equipment or attachments.

GHD Attachment

A huge improvement from the original Nordic Hyper GHD, is the GHD attachment. The new pad is a full sized GHD curved pad that uses the same rail system as the back extension pad. This means you have adjustments for different sized athletes, and something no other GHD does that I’m aware of, is provide regression options for glute ham raises. Just like the other movements, it once again has the same pros and cons of stability. Say it with me “You have some side to side when getting set up, which goes away in use.”

I mentioned I wasn’t a huge fan of Decline Sit-Ups. Well GHD Sit-Ups on the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro are a BANGER and currently sit at the top of my list for best ab development movements. The range of motion you get, the stretch you get in the midsection, is fantastic. And the in and out of the machine is way better than decline sit ups. And even with my 240lb frame, I’m not having any issues with the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro bouncing around at any point.

If you have a large floor-plan gym, are doing Glute Ham Raises multiple times a week with multiple athletes, or need to train them with a super wide footplate like the guys at Westside, then you can probably warrant the dedicated floor space of a big beefy GHD. Otherwise, I don’t see a good argument for choosing any GHD on the market over the Hyper Pro for most athletes.

I’d go as far to say that this might be the best option for any home gym, or even the majority of Crossfit Boxes. Again, we can control the angle of the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro, meaning we train brand new athletes on Glute Ham Raises, all the way to beasts with declines. I probably wouldn’t put this in a heavily trafficked commercial gym, just because of all of the adjustments and attachments, but for a community gym where members know the equipment and take care of it, good to go.

Reverse Hypers

Reverse Hypers for the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro are, still not Reverse Hypers. Here is my simple argument. If you laid down on your bench, put your legs up, and pressed them into the air, is your bench now a Leg Press? Of course not.

A Leg Press is a machine built with a specific purpose, that can be loaded and trained effectively. A Reverse Hyper is an actual machine, with a pendulum arm, that can be loaded and trained effectively.
This is simply a tall bench that you can swing your legs backwards on. There IS an exercise here called a Reverse Hip Extension. It is a difficult bodyweight exercise, and something worthy of considering in your workout.

But the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro is still, not a Reverse Hyper. Whether you angle it, add the GHD pad, use bands, or even rig up some DIY hack… Not a Reverse Hyper.

Freak Athlete Leg Developer

Freak Athlete was testing the Leg Developer and for whatever reason decided to send it to a handful of people before I got it. They all gave glowing reviews. I managed to break it on Day 2. Most of my issues were around stability and being able to support the bigger boys. I was tossing around 4 plates with my 240+lb body and things got wild.

Once they fixed the Joe Gray problems, I demanded that they give us a cable hook up for it too. Just like the rest of the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro, the Leg Developer is fairly middle of the road in terms of finishing touches. It is insanely creative, but we have nylon pulleys instead of aluminum, the powder coat is basic, and some of the creative solutions to improve the stability make it a little less than ideal aesthetically. This is typically what we get when we make something like the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro, and then 6 months later decide to make an attachment for it.

It was never designed to do this, so you have to design the attachment to work within the build of the machine, instead of designing them together. The leg extension set up originally came with handles, but they kept falling out, so my understanding is that they’ve stopped including them.

Ideally I’d like to see some kind of handle to pull yourself down into the leg developer a bit better. Since we don’t have a back pad, we don’t have that WEDGE that happens in a dedicated machine, so we really need something to keep us locked in. I often use my GymPin seat buckle for this and then just grab under the back extension pads and pull myself tight. Pretty good, but not perfect.

For leg curls, taller athletes are going to run out of room and your face is going to be resting on the ankle pads near the footplate. I sure as hell don’t want them to make this bad boy even longer, so this is just something we are stuck with. It isn’t so bad that I’m not using this, its just again, not perfect.

Other people have mentioned and I agree that storage for the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro Leg Developer could be improved. The GHD pad stores easily inside the top end of the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro in vertical storage, but the Leg Developer needs its own space. It stores well in terms of staying flat on the ground, but it would be great if it stored WITH the Hyper Pro.

Since the cable attachment showed up, I’ve completely removed the weight horn. This reduces the footprint of the unit and makes it store easier. But it still isn’t perfect. If you don’t have a good open spot under a mass storage unit like I do, you really need to think through this before purchase.

My wife has a bad knee from a soccer injury as a kid. When she uses the Leg Developer, we toss a pad under her to elevate and reduce the amount of stretch in the start position. From my understanding, you can ask Freak athlete for a pad and they’ll send you a second Nordic Pad to accomplish this if you happen to buy the leg developer and find it to be a bit much.

Few Small Issues

First, is that you need to position the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro in a perfect position from your cable machine. If you have a standard low row without a swivel pulley, you need to line up in a perfectly straight line of site, otherwise the cable is going to pull off axis.

And you need to place the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro the exact right distance away from the cable machine to get the right tension without any slop. The VOLTRA I makes this easier because I can set up the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro a little too far, pull the cable in place and have the VOLTRA I adjust the starting position, but for those with a more standard cable machine you are going to need to NAIL that position every time you set up.

The cable also adds to the original space requirement issues. Since this comes off the front of the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro, and you need another couple feet of cable to connect to your cable machine, when I set up for leg extensions and leg curls, I’m almost completely out of space in my gym. Depending on where your cable machine is, and the space around it, you might struggle here.

Overall, this is currently my favorite leg developer in my gym. Since getting the cable driven function I’ve almost exclusively used it with my VOLTRAs to control the resistance curves and an easier set up. Now, this isn’t a Prime Fitness Leg Curl/Leg Extension machine. But it might just be the best bench attachment on the market right now, and I’ve handled nearly all of them…

But we have some potential winners coming down the line here soon from Dialed Motion and REP that might challenge this.

The Leg Developer to me is one of the key aspects when considering the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro vs the other Nordic Combo Machines on the market. If you want to add this to your space, nothing else has the leg developer. And this one works pretty damn well, assuming you have the space needed.

Side note, their assembly process for the Leg Developer leverages the same separated and numbered baggie approach as the full Freak Athlete Hyper Pro. Because I received this before the launch date, I assembled it without any instructions. I only made one mistake, flipping one bolt for another. So with actual instructions, this should be a breeze.

Upper Body Kit

The upper body kit is an offering they added for the Leg Developer at launch. The idea is to turn your leg developer into a pseudo leverage based machine for rows, pulls, and various exercises. I tested a lot of stuff with this, going pretty heavy on some movements, and for the most part having some decent success. And then never used it again. I’ve got multiple cable machine options, dumbbells, specialty bars…

If your gym is fairly bare bones, maybe all you have is the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro, this is a solid addition that takes up legit no space, and is currently included with your purchase of the Leg Developer.

It just doesn’t serve a purpose in my space. I’m never going to set up the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro, and the leg developer, when I could just do a seated row. No complaints here, nothing they can really do to improve this, it’s really just meant as a “if you want it, we got it” kind of thing.

Just don’t expect that this is some replacement for a well-rounded gym if you are chasing down hypertrophy goals. But someone with no other options? Just like the Hip Thrust set-up, this is a fantastic use of something we already have.

Belt Squat Attachment

The Freak Athlete Hyper Pro Belt Squat Attachment is the most recent addition to the lineup, and it gives us belt squats and calf raises. Like the upper body kit, appears to be included for free with the leg developer as well. It is a simple addition to the Leg Developer, with a kickstand,

When Freak Athlete was here and testing it with me early on, I told them it probably isn’t meant for heavy squatters. They agreed.

The lever arm isn’t very long, which means the range of motion isn’t super great. This means you need more plates to feel it, and you just aren’t getting the same training effect from this as a more robust offering. But at a certain point, people need to stop thinking that a Leg Developer that costs $350 and comes with these extra pieces, is a suitable replacement for a dedicated belt squat machine.

My dude Matt Porter recently launched the TNT Hell Box Belt Squat which is $300 on its own. And the Rogue Rhino costs over $2500. Anyone who NEEDS a belt squat for powerlifting purposes needs to pony up for something much closer to the real deal. The belt squat is like the upper body kit, if you need it, it’s an awesome option to have that costs nothing and takes up essentially no space.

But you aren’t going to see me load up 400lbs for belt squats regularly on this.

Other Options On The Market

The BEST Nordic Bench For Your Home Gym – 2025

There are half a dozen Nordic Combo Machines on the market today. And I’ve owned and used all of them. So if you are still not sure about the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro, check out this article for other options.

Will one be better than the other?

This will come down to the features, build, price, and performance. And ultimately the one you pick will take YOUR needs into consideration, and choose the right Nordic Combo Machine for YOUR home gym.

Should You Upgrade the Nordic Hyper GHD to the Hyper Pro?

If you bought the original Nordic Hyper GHD, you might be considering their upgrade kit or even selling it and buying the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro outright.

The kit consists of the new GHD attachment and Pro Padding. As well as the Pro Rear Base. There are some of the items mentioned above that are NOT included. So you can not take your Nordic Hyper GHD and turn it into a fully “PRO” version with the upgrade kit. But you can get pretty close.

I personally don’t think we have such major improvements that you need to sell your original one. Do you NEED to upgrade? I don’t think so either. But it also definitely depends on your use case. If you plan to grab the Leg Developer, I’d also grab the Pro Upgrade Kit. If you do decline sit-ups regularly, or GHD work, I’d 100% grab the Pro Upgrade Kit. If you do Nordics and Back Extensions only, I might skip it. Save your couple hundred bucks for the next shiny toy.

If you own the original Nordic Hyper GHD and are considering selling it used, I’ve managed to get around $600 for mine, so you could go that route. Sell it, and grab the new Pro outright with all the fixings. It would be an expensive upgrade, but possibly worth it, again, depending on your space.

Should You Buy The Hyper Pro?

The Hyper Pro is one of half a dozen Nordic Combo machines on the market today that we’ve handled. In our experience and opinion so far, it’s still the best. It does the most stuff, has the most attachments, and has the least amount of compromises on the various exercises and features. But this isn’t the right fit for everyone. It really shines if you want to do the majority of these movements, if you plan to take advantage of the leg developer, and if you have multiple athletes from big to small.

The Tib Bar Guy NBE V2, does Nordics, Back Extensions, and Hip Thrusts, is fairly stable after they addressed the Joe Gray problems, and costs a couple hundred bucks less. No GHD, no leg developer, and a few small gripes, but overall decent.

The NordBench, which we just received the PRO version of, is considerably smaller, and cheaper, has band hook ups, but has some more play to it, no leg developer, you get the idea.

Ironmaster showcased their Nordic attachment at HomeGymCon for the Super Bench. With their attachment line up you could grab a leg developer and hyper piece and be pretty close the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro AND have access to their additional lineup of stuff, plus it is a bench.

All of this is going to boil down to your space, your budget, your programming, and your needs.

We are using the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro multiple times a week. In my own program I rotate through Back Extensions, Nordics, and Glute Ham Raises as a posterior chain accessory, do QL Raises, and GHD Sit ups. And the Leg Extensions and Leg Curls with the leg developer and cable attachment are our go to options in our space.

My wife is using it in almost every workout, and my daughter and her soccer team use it as well. Because it can accommodate all of us, and do so much so well, it has rightfully earned its space in our gym.

But my gym is not your gym. If you have only one athlete, plan to grab that Dialed Motion Leg Developer, can no Nordics with a DIY hack you have set up, and don’t like back extensions… well, that decision starts to look quite a bit different.

Wrap Up

So what do you think? Is the Freak Athlete Hyper Pro and all the fixings the next addition to your gym? Are you gonna check out another Nordic bench? Or maybe skip the Nordic Curl phase entirely?

💲Want to buy a Freak Athlete Hyper Pro? Use this link.